Over my head

[Just_Dan]

Hey all,
I guess it's sink or swim time. The local cycling club is having a ride in about 4 weeks, the photographers that have volunteered and worked the last 2 years will not be there. When I volunteered to shoot the event I thought I would be an additional lens and it would be a great learning experience, no pressure. Now I am it.
Some background, have had a Nikon D40x for about 6 weeks used mainly for nature and landscapes, I have both 18-55 and 55-200 lenses. This is a 55 mile loop course that I will be driving, and plan to scout for scenic backgrounds before the event. I guess a main goal is getting shots of each of the about 250 riders, should I just plant myself at a point 1/3 of the way in and wait until everybody has passed, then roam to other locations taking additional shots?
Luckily there is a mountain bike event in the AM that I'm going to, just to start learning about action shots.
I can see a lot more questions coming.
Dan

 

[spyder]

i dont know too much about shooting sports action shots, but you may want to look at pictures of similar events to see what type of shots other people take of your sport to get an idea of what you want to do.

 

[Heck]

Looks like you got the same camera that I have and it should do fine. Is it possible for you to get to 2 spots at this event? If not find a spot to set up at and I would try and find a nice looking one with a good back round to it. I would also see if the bikers at that spot will be bunched up or lets say its up a hill and will they be spread out. And what kinda shots will you be going for? like do you want a blur or not in the photo showing motion?

The way I tried with action shots was I stood in front of my house and took shots of cars passing. They passed about 30 to 40 mph and I played with the shutter speed and panning till I found the sweet spot for a good motion shot. Like the car would be sharp but the wheels and back round would be blured out.